


L is for the way you look at me

by serendipitous_rambles



Series: We were just kids when we fell in love [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Growing Up Together, Mileven, One Shot, i wanted to show them growing up because i love the idea of them when they're older, they'd be so cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 12:03:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11646168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitous_rambles/pseuds/serendipitous_rambles
Summary: Fluffy one shot about Mike and Eleven growing up and how the way Mike looks at her changes over the years. Basically it's just cute fluff about them growing up together.





	L is for the way you look at me

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know about this, it was a cute idea but I couldn't quite get the words to how I wanted. It happens sometimes :)

**November, 1983**

 

The first time he saw her, they were both scared. She just appeared out of nowhere in the woods, all four of the children were startled by this encounter. But there was something odd and perplexing about her and Mike knew he wouldn't be forgetting this meeting anytime soon. Her look of a deer caught in the headlights stirred something within him, a need to protect her- at least for one night.

 

"Pretty..."He whispered as she walked out the bathroom."Good. Pretty good." he caught himself, Mike _really_ didn't need Lucas and Dustin's teasing right now. But it was the first time he realised that maybe girls weren't so gross after all. Lucas would later bring up in years to come about how Mike's jaw literally dropped when he saw her. El looked in the mirror and for the first time was happy, she looked just like the other girls. Mike would insist she didn't need it, she was pretty without all the make up and wig.

 

He stopped falling. But how? When he landed on the hard surface again, he turned and saw Eleven walking towards them. Mike looked on in wonderment as she saved him and Dustin from the bullies. Then later in admiration as he told her she wasn't the monster. How could she be the monster if she saved him. Looking back at that moment, Mike knew it was when he first started to fall for her, even if he didn't quite know it yet.

 

Heartbroken. That was when he thought he'd lost her forever. The tears streaming down both their faces, a look of longing and heart ache, before "Goodbye Mike." Gone. Gone for what would seem like forever.

* * *

 

**October, 1984**

 

It can't be real. He must just be dreaming, he saw her so often in his dreams that he knew this must just be a realistic dream. She was gone and wasn't coming back. But she was, she was really here. The look of denial turned into a look of pure joy. Even after all this time, he still held hope that she would come back, despite the logical side of his brain telling him it would never happen. They didn't need to speak, that would come later. For now she was content with the tightest hug she had ever recieved. The fear that he didn't remember or didn't miss her was washed away as she returned the hug.

* * *

**April, 1988**

 

They were 17. They often shared quick glances at each other during game night, movie night, any group gathering. There was mutual affection, but Mike had yet to act upon it officially. Sure they'd had a few outings here and there, but nothing ever special. He would still get flustered and nervous whenever it was just the two of them, which had begun to happen more frequently as the boys grew up, got jobs and girlfriends themselves. Everyone assumed Mike and El were dating, they acted enough like a couple, but he had been nervous to officially ask her. One night however, it was just the two of them. The weather was just beginning to get warm again so they'd gone on a walk to the woods. El would like to hold his hand, which always made him super aware of her presence and the contact. He looked at her and how she seemed in love with the nature around them, her eyes never stopping too long in one place. That was when he knew he had to tell her he was in love with her. He stopped and faced her, and El tried to read the expression on his face. When he told her, his expression changed from nervous to unsure, her eyes filling with tears. Had he just ruined everything? But her smile was the brightest and biggest he'd ever seen and his expression changed to match hers. From then on, he would always look at her in complete adoration and bewilderment that someone like her could feel the same way about him that he did her.

* * *

 

**June, 1990**

 

Completely smitten. That was how everyone described Mike's face when he returned from his first year at college. It was as if she was the only one there to greet him when he finally arrived back home by the way his eyes never seemed to leave her face. They'd written to each other and called everyday, but not being able to see each other's face for so long had been painful, so much so that Mike almost refused to leave when he came back for Christmas. It was once again as if this weren't real, that he would wake up back in his dorm room at college. But they were together once more. Lucas and Dustin still liked to mock him whenever they caught him just staring at El, lost in his own world. El would of course defend him and joke that at least his girlfriend isn't imaginary. 

"I told you, she is back with her own family. She's real." Dustin would insist and even pull out his photos of them together, causing laughter amongst the group.

Whenever it was time for El to go home, Mike would insist, just a little longer, neither really wanting to be apart. But of course, he knew she had work and had to be up early.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow." he would sigh and jokingly put a hand over his heart.

"You nerd." she would always smile. 

Goodbyes were always hard, neither really liking to use the word "goodbye" after that night in 1983. So it was simply "see you later," always followed by them just staring into each other's eyes until either Hopper or one of the boys awkwardly coughed to get their attention.

El would never get tired of how Mike seemed to look at her like she was everything, like nothing else mattered in the world, a look of complete love. It was always the way he looked at her that made her fall in love each time.

 

 

 


End file.
